Tampa Roster Set

The 2009 Tampa Yanks have been announced, and people, they are loaded. Dellin Betances and Jeremy Bleich will headline a rotation that will also probably feature Jairo Heredia and Wilkins De La Rosa (who are thus far not listed) and either Lance Pendleton, Jason Stephens or Ryan Zink. Betances has a top of the rotation ceiling and his control really came along toward the end of last year. They will start to move him aggressively if he stays healthy and can dominate for 40 innings. Jeremy Bleich is another guy who could move quickly. The polished lefty, who has touched 93 with his fastball and flashed a plus curve and change is coming off a great showing in Hawaii and could fly through the minors like Ian Kennedy did two years ago. Heredia and De La Rosa are not listed now, but Heredia's a young righty with great pitchability and a developing fastball. De La Rosa is a converted outfielder with a great fastball for a lefty, and developing stuff that will either keep him a starter or make him a reliever. Pendleton has been injured for most of his career, but when healthy has a good fastball and decent secondary stuff. Stephens and Zink are basically strike throwers who need to come up with above average secondary pitches to have a chance at the majors. Noel Castillo is another candidate for the rotation who has a good fastball but might end up in the pen.


The pen features Jonathan Ortiz, who has a killer change, and Grant Duff, a big kid who's fastball has been missing for two seasons but seems to be back. Chuck Nolte will be there and he's the kid we picked up from the Twins who's K'd everybody he didn't get a grounder out of. Hovis and Heyer are looking like organization guys, and I think Amauri Sanit just got released.

The infield will be outstanding. Jesus Montero and Austin Romine will split catcher/DH roles, while Steven Strausbaugh will be the emergency receiver. People in the Yankee organization think Montero might be the best hitting prospect they've had since Mantle. I'm not kidding. Mantle. Of course, whether he can keep progressing as a catcher remains to be seen. Romine may be our second best hitting prospect and he's also got to keep developing at C.

Jorge Vazquez isn't listed yet, but he should be the 1B. He's a righty slugger who gets on base, and could be a good mentor for Montero, Romine and Brandon Laird, who will probably play some first and third. Laird is another exciting hitter. He needs to walk more, but he's a hard worker and showed up lean and mean for ST. Wady Rufino will also get ab's at first. He's been around awhile and needs to break out and start moving fast. Damon Sublett and Matt Cusick will probably split 2B. They're both big on base players, and Subby has some pop. Addison Maruszak and Louis Nunez will probably split short. Maruszak is a patience and pop guy the organization is very high on. Nunez is more of a defensive specialist who hasn't proved much with the bat. Mitch Hilligos will be back trying to get ab's at 3rd when Laird's not there. He had a bad season last year, and needs to show some patience if he wants to be considered a prospect.

The OF will feature Tommy Baldridge, Eric Fryer, Austin Krum and Jack Rye. Baldridge got moved around last year and no one seems to have a fix on him yet. Fryer is the kid we got for Chase Wright. He's 23 but he gets on base a lot and has some pop. Austin Krum is a streaky hitter, but he works hard and makes a great play in the field every game. Jack Rye is gonna play right and needs to show some pop. He could develop a stadium swing.

Though I think there will be some more additions to this team, they are loaded with pitching, plate patience and pop and should win the FSL if everyone doesn't get promoted, first.